India’s Om Puri on the Hazards of Pulling a Rickshaw in Bare Feet

Patrick Swayze is the star of Roland Joffe’s “City of Joy,” but Indian actor Om Puri is the film’s scene stealer.

Puri is memorable as Hasari, a peasant who hopes for a better life for himself and his family in Calcutta after drought and famine drive them out of their village. Forced to live in the Calcutta slums, Hasari finds work as a rickshaw puller.

Puri says 60% of Calcutta is composed of slums. “It is because so many people are coming from villages,” he explains. “We must do something about the planning, creating an infrastructure in the rural areas so these people don’t come to the city. They have much better places to live in villages, but because they don’t have work there, they come to the city and live in these horrible conditions. They don’t make enough money to go back.”

The actor spent 15 days running barefoot through the streets of Calcutta learning how to pull a rickshaw in preparation for his role. “I was given two people who actually are rickshaw pullers and they chose my rickshaw for me. I was disguised on the streets and so nobody hired me, I had these (men as my) two permanent passengers and they tutored me.”

He admits he was initially afraid running around Calcutta sans shoes. “I thought, ‘My God! Suppose there is a piece of glass in the road or iron?’ The road is rough. For the first two days I was scared, then I forgot about it. Nothing happened.”

Puri, who was born in Punjab and now lives in Bombay, graduated from India’s National School of Drama and studied at the Film and Television Institute of India. He’s made more than 100 films in India in the last 15 years and prior to “City of Joy” was seen by Western audiences in “Gandhi” and PBS’ “The Jewel in the Crown.”

Puri was enjoying his first visit to Los Angeles.

“It seems a very pleasant city, but from people here I gather it is not liked very much and I don’t see too many people walking on the streets.”